The girl asks an experienced train conductor who got off the night shift an hour ago. He is eating a small cup of warm instant noodles while the girl drinks a warm glass of milk.
“Well, it is one of the overlooked careers in my city, even though everyone heavily relies on public transportation, so I want to make myself useful.”
He engulf a piece of pork chop along with spoons full of noodles.
He was an orphan who was raised in government-funded orphanages. He experienced multiple aspects of life through communication with friends from different backgrounds in public schools. His life is simple but rather complex, with youth’s excitement and enthusiasm. The role of train conductor is something that he could reasonably imagine as a reachable position for him in this town.
“What is your responsibility for this role?”
The girl title her head as she takes a sip of warm milk.
“Well in general I had to drive a train around town, picking up and dropping off passengers. Security checks and cleaning the train carriage are also part of my job. It is mandatory to perform health checks and keep in touch with the railway center to maintain a consistent schedule during rush hour…”
The man paused slightly as if he recalls something so dark that he desperately wants to forget.
The bartender notices his customer is silent and starts mentioning something out of the blue.
“Hey, are you that guy on the newspaper by chance. The one who braves enough to prevent a mass shooting incident a few days ago?”
His slightly intense stare makes the man flinch a bit as he faces up to the question from the bartender.
“Not everyone is safe that day, I closed the door too slow and one of the bullets pierced through and hit one of the passengers right in the heart… It all happened too suddenly. I shout for everybody to lie down and drive off around a much safer area.”
He sighed, engulfing a whole bowl of noodle soup with an exceptionally loud voice.
“But that is not the end. Another shootout area was located two stations away from your current station. Your coworkers were being held on the rail. While another rail was a carriage full of explosives and a hijacker.”
The bartender asked him while he pulled up a newspaper with an incident report.
“You did make a good call, didn’t you? Switching the rail to save your friends when the officer saves them puts you at risk of being sued by both passengers and the railway companies.”
“That freaking new is all a lie”
He shouted out, breathing heavily as he looked down at the tables.
Before the bartender could say anything, the girl turn to the bartender and yell at him.
“Don’t make assumptions like that! We are all aware of his situation right now. No need to mention it out loud.”
She turn to the train conductor and question him with a disguised, elaborate point.
“Since you knew at the time of the incident, it is plausible that you couldn’t risk further injury to others, so you disconnected the passenger carriages and switched the rail track. Letting the train move forward by itself to face that criminal, am I right? “
“Almost correct. It's just that the train cannot drive by itself without its conductor.”
He answer the girl question. He order a glass of sake from bartender, then take a newspaper from the bartender when he focus on something else.
“Have you ever heard of trolley problems?” The conductor asks the little girl.
“The ethics test regarding morality and logic processes of people? That is a pretty famous test, isn’t it?”
The conductor point out the image in the newspaper, which showed an almost exact railway pattern similar to the ones used in that famous test.
“To me, I always thought that we need to keep a larger section of the population alive. But I always ask myself if that one person is not a hijacker but the passenger, who, unfortunately, is being harmed because of my recklessness. Will I still choose to switch the track, or intentionally kill my colleague like a fish? It all felt conflicted every time I saw this image.”
He bounces his leg frequently and drinks a whole shot of sake. His tear slowly drifts down his right side. The girl sits still, moving her fingers along the track in the image.
“It is all inevitable. You don’t have the telepathic power to save everyone. Whatever has happened has already happened, and you cannot rewind a clock to alter your past. What matters is that you prevent the worst possible scenarios despite knowing the deadly consequences afterward. What a bravery instinct you got there.”
The girl smile as she console the conductor, patting his right arm.
He never realizes how impactful his actions were in others’ presence. He had been lost in his world of overthinking. It all started to become brighter, as if the girl reminded him of the natural law. Things always happened, and it always dried out at the end. There is no such thing as forever; rather, it is an extension from time to time.
The conductor wipes out his tears before giggling. His voice becomes upbeat as he thanks the girl while hugging her.
“Thank goodness I met you today. I hope I can provide you with a service one day.”
“With pleasure. Mr conductor.”
She secretly put a dime in his uniform pocket. They said goodbye to each other as he left through the back of the bar.
“The man seriously needs to get a promotion at the end of the year. He got a lot of guts to pull off that move.”
The bartender praises the conductor as he washes the glass.
“Yes, and he didn’t put someone under a spotlight, right?”
The girl teased the bartender. The glass in his hand tripped out, showing his embarrassment about his action a moment ago.
“At least the milk will get me to sleep peacefully tonight, knowing we have an honest train conductor in town. What's next?”